U.S. top court strikes down law making it a crime to lie about receiving a military medal | New Hampshire NEWS06 Have I told you guys that I have 87 congressional Medals of Honor?
I think this is bullshit. Saying this is "freedom of speech" is like me saying: I'm a cop. I'm a lawyer. I'm a real estate agent. Would you like to buy this house? None of these things are true. All of these things can take advantage of someone's trust, just as claiming to be a war hero.
If you fraudulently get a job based on lying on your resume, you can still be fired and sued. This is just saying the act of simply saying "I'm a war hero." isn't a criminal offense when the statement is false. Also, apparently the statute is overbroad, which is a killer for speech regulation. I'd probably agree with the ruling.
That is your interpretation of the law? That its purpose was to stop fraudulent job hires and people from saying "I'm a war hero"?
Haven't read it, just saw a summary. And, no, I don't think fraudulent hires has anything to do with this law, but this ruling doesn't allow people to defraud people by lying about who they are, which is what I thought your point was. If not, I apologize.
I haven't read this opinion. There was a law criminalizing the mere utterance of words such as "I am a war hero"? What in the world happened that caused some state congressman to write this law (besides a report of insufficient paper being wassted)?
Eh, most vets (at least the ones I know) don't sit around and brag about that kind of stuff anyway. That should be a dead giveaway if someone's doing that.
Thats my experience too. I have a great uncle that was on the USS Tennessee at Pearl Harbor and getting him to talk about it was like pulling teeth.
I think it was inspired by a book written by a Vietnam vet called "Stolen Honor" or something like that. I think claiming that you are a CMH winner is in poor poor taste, but I'm not sure it's criminal.
It shouldn't be against the law, but private citizens and companies should be free to use it as a reason to black mark you.
Right, I don't believe poor taste can really be regulated, and I definitely don't think it should be criminalized. What was the book about? The title sort of rules it out, but if it were a book written about vietnam from the perspective of a vietnam vet, except that the author wasn't really a vietnam vet, that would be (a part of) the plot of the movie "Tropic Thunder"....and I would find that funny. Great movie. Really funny.
Agreed. It speaks to one's character, but it's not criminal unless used to facilitate criminal activity. I was wrong. Stolen Honor was a video about John Kerry. The book is called Stolen Valor. Stolen Valor - Reality Show
Lying isn't criminal activity. If fraud is committed, that's criminal. I am speaking simply to something like me coming to 8th Maxim claiming to be a silver star, purple heart, or CMH winner to get attaboys and pats on the back, while tasteless, isn't criminal. My understanding is that the law included that as well.
I asked what criminal activity was. If you come on here, get attaboys and pats on the back that lead to friendly relations, football tickets, seats at the tail gate, etc. Is this not fraud? If you use it as a pick up line for some bimbo, too dumb enough to realize you weren't honest, is this just a lie, or is it rape? I asked what criminal activity was.
Good points. Upon reflection, the things you listed would be criminal themselves. I will rephrase what I said by saying that I don't think it should be an aggrivating factor. Or I could answer like Associate Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said about hard core pornography: "I know it when I see it."
Give me a break. Manipulating people isn't criminal in itself. Hell, had rbroyles known what an asshole i was, I would never have gotten to see that last win over Kentucky
